Russian Sitcom Star Says Gay People Should Be Burned Alive

A star in Russia's popular answer to U.S. medical sitcom "Scrubs" has added to mounting mood of homophobia in the country by saying he wants to burn gay people alive as they pose a danger to his children.

"I'd put them all alive in the oven … it's a living danger to my children," Ivan Okhlobystin said at a chat with fans in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

Local news website News.ngs.ru reported Wednesday that Okhlobystin, a father of six, ranted about "gay fascism" and demanded that "faggots" be stripped of their voting rights as homosexuality is a "psychical anomaly."

The 47-year-old actor, one of Russia's most extravagant media personalities, served as an Orthodox Christian priest as well as acting until his priesthood was suspended in 2010.

Okhlobystin, a chief ideologue at the Kremlin-linked Right Cause party, made a short-lived bid for the presidency in 2011. In previous public remarks, he pledged to use proceedings from an upcoming book to buy arms for the besieged regime in Syria.

Okhlobystin has about 50 entries in his filmography, including 2001 movie "DownHouse," a psychedelic retelling of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Idiot."

He is best known for "Interns," a sitcom directly inspired by "Scrubs." Although the show's producers describe the show as an original creation, Okhlobystin's perennially misanthropic doctor is a clear copy of a character in "Scrubs."

"Interns" was rated Russia's best television show of 2012 in a survey by state-run pollster VTsIOM last December.

Anti-gay sentiment is on the rise in Russia. Rights activists say legislation approved last year to ban the promotion of homosexuality toward minors has fueled a climate of intolerance toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

Prominent television presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, who was this week appointed by the Kremlin to head a news agency that is set to replace RIA Novosti, called in 2012 to "burn or bury the hearts of gays" that die in car crashes.

He did stop short of promoting actually burnings gay people alive, as Okhlobystin has done, however.

Russian oil output fell to 10.65 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, down from 10.71 million bpd in June, falling from post-Soviet highs maintained since March, Energy Ministry data showed on Sunday.

A German court case against Sergei Maximov, the man believed to be pro-Kremlin hacker "Hell," has burst back into the spotlight following a guest appearance by a close associate of opposition firebrand Alexei Navalny.

On the blustery terrace of a quiet cafe in Moscow, Natalia Freidina, the only female racing driver in the Blancpain GT Series, rushes in over an hour late. Ironically, someone has run into her car on the way.

Russia is far from being a cultural, religious or ethnic monolith and trying to combat this diversity by suppressing minority religions promises more chaos, write M. Zuhdi Jasser and Katrina Lantos Swett.

When young investigator Pavel Yasman was tasked with interrogating Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky, known for his shocking political protest stunts, he never imagined that their conversations would change his life.